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English Language > Lexis > Flashcards

Lexis Flashcards

1
Q

Define lexis

A

Vocabulary choices and meaning.

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2
Q

Define idiolect

A

Our distinctive and individual style of speaking.

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3
Q

Define fillers

A

Words such as ‘um’ and ‘er’, used in spontaneous speech when we are thinking on what to say, or in nervous situations.

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4
Q

Define taboo

A

Expletives.

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5
Q

Define dialect

A

The words and vocabulary choices we make

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6
Q

Define neologism

A

Creating new words.

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7
Q

Give examples of neologisms

A

BREXIT, chillax, flabbergasted.

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8
Q

Define colloquialisms

A

Informal words or phrases typically used in comfortable situations.

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9
Q

Define spoonerisms

A

A verbal error in which a speaker accidentally transposes the initial sounds or letters of two or more words.

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10
Q

Give an example of a spoonerism

A

Lack of pies & pack of lies

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11
Q

Define sociolect

A

How social groups influence our idiolect.

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12
Q

Define jargon

A

Using specific terms only a social group will understand.

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13
Q

Define initialisms

A

Abbreviations consisting of initial letters.

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14
Q

Give examples of initialisms

A

BBC, DNA

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15
Q

Define acronyms

A

Combining the first letter/syllable of each word in a phrase to create a new word, which is said as the word is spelt.

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16
Q

Give examples of acronyms

A

FOMO, ASAP

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17
Q

Define vague language/hedging

A

How a writer creates certainty and uncertainty.

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18
Q

Give examples of hedging

A

About, kind of, sort of

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19
Q

Define synonyms

A

Words with a similar or same meaning

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20
Q

Define antonyms

A

Words with opposite meaning

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21
Q

Paronomasia

A

Linguistic term for wordplay

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22
Q

Define negative reinforcement

A

Telling a child not to do something or correcting them

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23
Q

Define positive reinforcement

A

Praising for doing something using expressives

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24
Q

Define formality

A

How we appear in certain situations, e.g. polite vs impolite. How we use language, e.g. standard vs non-standard. Whether we use formal or informal vernacular.

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25
Q

Define vulgarism.

A

Words just short of taboo, e.g. ‘bloody’ or ‘crap’. Not as frowned upon as taboo.

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26
Q

Define slang

A

A very broad term for many different uses of language which are not considered to be ‘proper’ or standard English.

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27
Q

Define standard English

A

Informal, neutral, formal and very formal. SE is the term used for grammatical constructions generally accepted as ‘correct’ English, but even here there is a spectrum ranging from informal to highly formal.

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28
Q

Define non-standard English.

A

Words and grammatical constructions not considered to be correct SE, but which are confined to specific regions of the country.

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29
Q

Define operant conditioning

A

Children learn via positive and negative reinforcement

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30
Q

Define vague language

A

Language which is ambiguous in its meaning

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31
Q

Give examples of vague language

A

12 ish, soonish, sort of

32
Q

Define minimal response

A

A short/small response

33
Q

Give examples of minimal response

A

yeah, uh-huh, dunno

34
Q

Define semantics

A

The study of meaning, e.g. we say ‘maybe’ when we mean ‘no’. The semantics behind ‘maybe’ implies ‘no’.

35
Q

Define opinionated language

A

A personal viewpoint often presented as if a fact.

36
Q

Give an example of opinionated language

A

In my view that is the best thing to ever happen

37
Q

Define anaphora

A

A type of repetition where the first part of a phrase is repeated.

38
Q

Give an example of anaphora

A

‘Hear us speak, hear our plea’

39
Q

Define anadiplosis

A

A type of repetition where the end part of a word is repeated.

40
Q

Give an example of anadiplosis

A

The time for peace has come, the time to build chasms has come.

41
Q

Define statistical language

A

Factual data used in a persuasive way.

42
Q

Define repetition

A

Repeating words for effect

43
Q

Define triplets

A

Using three points to support an argument

44
Q

Define euphemism

A

A word or phrase people use to make something or someone sound positive, good and likeable.

45
Q

Give an example of a euphemism

A

‘Passed away’ instead of ‘died’

46
Q

Define dysphemism

A

A word or phrase people use to make something or someone sound negative, bad and unlikeable.

47
Q

Give an example of dysphemism

A

‘Six feet under’ for ‘death’

48
Q

Define french lexis

A

Elegant sounding terms

49
Q

Define latinate lexis

A

Complicated, long, polysyllabic (2 or more syllables) words.

50
Q

Define Anglo-Saxon lexis

A

Basic, often monosyllabic (1 syllable) terms e.g. axe, rag

51
Q

Define etymology

A

A word’s origin, history and journey

52
Q

Define diachronic linguistics

A

Change over time

53
Q

Give examples of diachronic linguistics

A

suffer - to allow
meate - all foods
nice - silly and foolish

54
Q

Define synchronic linguistics

A

Change happening in a moment of time. How it is not how it got there.

55
Q

Define semantic change/drift

A

How words evolve over time

56
Q

Define pejoration

A

Where a word’s meaning becomes more negative over time

57
Q

Give an example of pejoration

A

The word ‘attitude’ used to mean position but now often relates to having a ‘bad attitude’.

58
Q

Define amelioration

A

When a words meaning becomes more positive over time

59
Q

Give an example of amelioration

A

The word ‘dizzy’ once meant ‘foolish’, it is now often associated with having vertigo.

60
Q

Define specialisation/narrowing

A

Where a words meaning narrows over time

61
Q

Give an example of specialisation/narrowing

A

‘girl’ used to be applicable to to females and males but now only has associations with young women

62
Q

Define generalisation/broadening

A

Where a word’s meaning broadens over time

63
Q

Give an example of generalisation/broadening

A

‘Pretty’. It denotes being attractive but has recently acquired the new denotation of modifying a sentence, e.g. ‘that’s pretty cool’

64
Q

Define connotations

A

Word associations

65
Q

Define denotations/sense

A

Dictionary definitions of words

66
Q

Define lexical/semantic field

A

Using words with common denotations

67
Q

Define high frequency words

A

Words that occur often in language

68
Q

Define low frequency words

A

Words you don’t hear often. Some low frequency words may be archaic or become obsolete

69
Q

Give examples of low frequency words

A

‘Timorous’ for ‘shy’, or ‘venerable’ for ‘old’

70
Q

Define lexical ambiguity/polysemy

A

Where a word could have multiple meanings in a sentence. The meaning of a sentence could therefore be unclear.

71
Q

Give an example of lexical ambiguity/polysemy

A

There’s a bank over there.

72
Q

Define homonyms

A

The umbrella term for homophones and homographs. Also used for words which are both a homophone and a homograph. E.g. blue the colour and blue the feeling

73
Q

Define collocations/collocated phrases

A

Two- or three-word phrases heard frequently together.

74
Q

Give some examples of collocations/collocated phrases.

A

Salt and pepper, knife and fork, the whole wide world, once upon a time.

75
Q

Describe atypical/untypical collocations or// malapropisms

A

Incorrect collocations or idioms

76
Q

Give examples of malapropisms

A

‘powerful coffee’ instead of ‘strong coffee’, ‘tall temperature’ instead of ‘high temperature’.

77
Q

Define idioms in terms of collocations

A

A type of collocations; more specifically, they are defined as familiar metaphorical expressions. This can include euphemisms and dysphemisms, too, e.g. it’s raining cats and dogs.

English Language (8 decks)

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